Writing Tips

Somerset Maugham is famously quoted for saying that there are three rules for writing the novel but no one knows what they are.  Makes it all sound kind of daunting, doesn't it?

There's an awful lot of excellent advice on writing out there but advice is only as good as it helps you with a specific problem.  I've read lots of Help-books and also taken several online classes in writing. I've learned something each time.  Some of the best writing tips I picked up were from agents rejecting my work!
Here are 5 writing tips which I still call up when stuck on a manuscript - these might not all do it for you so pick the ones that make sense to you and your writing.

Tip Number One
Get the whole story down as quickly as you can.  Once you've written it out - beginning, climax, end, you can go back and fill in the blanks, change the characters, move scenes around.  But until you have it there in front of you it is a major problem fitting the bits in and getting it to be a flowing story.  So don't get hung up on what you wrote yesterday, get in there today and write the next bit - just write the first line of a scene for now if you can't get it the way you want it, you can go back to it again and again.

Tip Number Two
Have a story outline at the very least.  When I first started writing I often only had the first chapter and two of the characters in my head and had no idea how the story was going to develop.  I got stuck so often, not knowing how to carry the plot forward - or even, let's be honest, exactly what the plot was.  I could have spent all that time in honing my craft as they say.
When you have an idea for a story, ask yourself some basic questions before you start and write down the answers.  This will give you the plot. 
a)  What is the story about?
b) Who are the main characters?
 c) What do the main characters want?
d)What keeps the main characters from getting what they want?
 e) How do they resolve the problems?

Tip Number Three
Sit down with a novel you enjoyed reading and mark off where it got you hooked and think about why you kept on reading.  I am currently reading a novel where the prologue intrigued me, together with the blurb on the back of the book. I'm at page 80 or so and as yet nothing dramatic has happened but as the wants of the characters unfold, tension increases.  I care about the characters and I want to know what happens as foreshadowed in the prologue.  So I'll keep reading.  A word of warning here: some people - including agents - don't like prologues and they are no guarantee that your story will be published.  But if you feel it fits, go for it.


Tip Number Four
In his book The Complete Story, Jerry Cleaver says you have to have conflict on every page. This is by no means easy to achieve but in order to hold the reader, each page should push the story forward and deepen the problems until the whole thing reaches a (final) climax.  Again, check this out in a novel you liked (see also Tip Number Three). Go back to your outline (Tip Number Two) and fill in each stage of the story's development, making things more difficult for the main characters every step of the way.  If possible set out the chapter numbers here as well.  This does require some really hard work, but who said writing was easy?

Tip Number Five
I've saved probably the best tip until last and I can't remember where I got it from, it goes like this:  Never finish a scene when you stop writing for the day. When you come back to it next day you don't have to start cold.There is a living scene there on the page waiting to be completed.  It means you get stuck in again straight away instead of wandering off to answer emails or make yourself a cup of coffee.


So give it your best shot.  Like every other skill, the more you work on it the better you'll get.